1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to appliances useful for cleaning and refreshing fabrics. The present invention is especially directed to such an appliance that comprises a means to prevent its accidental opening while a refreshing/cleaning cycle is running.
2. Description of the Related Art
Certain delicate fabrics are not suitable for conventional in-home immersion cleaning processes. Home washing machines, which provide excellent cleaning results for the majority of fabrics used in today's society, can, under certain conditions, shrink or otherwise damage silk, linen, wool and other delicate fabrics. Consumers typically have their delicate fabric items “dry-cleaned”. Unfortunately, dry-cleaning usually involves immersing the fabrics in various hydrocarbon and halocarbon solvents that require special handling and the solvent must be reclaimed, making the process unsuitable for in-home use. Hence, dry-cleaning has traditionally been restricted to commercial establishments making it less convenient and more costly than in-home laundering processes.
Attempts have been made to provide in-home dry-cleaning systems that combine the fabric cleaning and refreshing of in-home, immersion laundering processes with the fabric care benefits of dry-cleaning processes. One such in-home system for cleaning and refreshing garments comprises a substrate sheet containing various liquid or gelled cleaning agents, and a plastic bag. The garments are placed in the bag together with the sheet, and then tumbled in a conventional clothes dryer. In a current commercial embodiment, multiple single-use flat sheets comprising a cleaning/refreshing agent and a single multi-use plastic bag are provided in a package.
Unfortunately, such in-home processes are designed for use in a conventional clothes dryer, or the like appliance. Such appliances are not always readily available, and they are often uneconomical. Moreover, in many countries clothes dryers are simply unnecessary. For example, in many warm tropical regions people do not typically own clothes dryers because their clothes can be dried year-round by hanging them outside in the sun. In the areas of the world where people do not typically own clothes dryers, products that require a heating appliance, such as a clothes dryer, are of little or no value.
Steamer cabinets have also been utilized in the past to treat fabric articles with heavy doses of steam. Unfortunately, past steam cabinets were largely uncontrolled with respect to temperature and humidity. The cabinets were generally large appliances that were not portable. And due to the large amount of steam used a drying step is often required that puts strain on the fabrics. The drying step also requires additional time and energy, and often results in undesirable shrinkage.
Thus, there was a need to develop a domestic, non-immersion cleaning and refreshing process, and cleaning and refreshing compositions for use therein, which provides acceptable cleaning without the need for a tumble dryer. Moreover, there was a need for appliances that can regulate both temperature and relative humidity within a container during a domestic, non-immersion cleaning and refreshment process, wherein dry clean only fabrics are cleaned, de-wrinkled and refreshed. Such appliances were developed, which comprise a container, preferably collapsible, having an interior void space for hanging at least one cloth item, and a built-in mechanism to control temperature and humidity levels inside the container and dispense a refreshing/cleaning composition onto the treated cloth item. Such containers and/or processes are disclosed for example in the PCT application WO00/52249 to Procter & Gamble, or WO2000/US14910 (application number) to Procter & Gamble.
However, the cloth refreshing/cleaning appliances as above described still present some disadvantages. Firstly, such refreshing/cleaning appliances use controlled temperature and humidity inside the void space of the appliance, and they treat the garments by dispensing a refreshing/cleaning composition inside the void space of a container. However, it is very easy for the user to open the container of the refreshing/cleaning appliance while it is running, thus modifying the normal temperature and humidity conditions, and letting the refreshing/cleaning composition out. Thus, such accidental openings while the appliance clearly undesirable to keeping good fabric treating conditions inside the void space of the container, and such accidental openings can badly affect the overall performance of the appliance. Secondly, it has been found that it is highly beneficial for users of such appliances to have ready-to-use usage instructions. One important reason for creating such appliances was to improve simplicity and efficiency in the daily treatment of clothes. The simplicity of the refreshing/cleaning process that is inherent to such appliances can be dramatically improved if the appliance itself comprises means to indicate the user how to run a refreshing/cleaning cycle.
For the reasons cited above, It is a main object of the present invention to provide a cloth refreshing/cleaning appliance that comprises a safety means to prevent accidental opening while a treating cycle is running, and especially, a means to warn the user that the appliance is running.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide the consumer with an appliance that comprises means that indicate and help the user with built-in instructions on how to use said appliance and run a refreshing/cleaning cycle in a safe way.